photo editing software

[dennise]

I know that his has been asked before,but I can't find it now, but what would be the best version of Photoshop for a beginner. I think there is a version that is geared more for the advanced, which I am not, unfortunately.

Thanks

 

[Furgus]

Elements 5.0 is a good Photoshop version, CS3 is the mack daddy one.

 

[RBennett]

I recently purchase Elements 5.0 last weekend and thanks to some posts on this forum, I was able to produce the following picture. I know everyone's probably tired of seeing this same picture, but I'm kind of proud of it since it is my first picture to expirement with. It's fairly user friendly to me, but I have nothing to base it on as far as to say which is the MOST user friendly.

 

[MICKEY88]

PAint SHop PRo Photo XI is another awesome editing program,

you can pretty much do anything with it that can be done with the full version of photo shop... at a fraction of the cost,,right now it's on sale for $69

 

[Furgus]

I had the trial of Elements 5.0 and after using the full blown version of Photoshop since 7.0, and I still am not that great with it, I did not like it. I think it was just the menu structure was so different, it was harder for me. Now for someone who has never seen it, I think it is great. In fact once I get my large format printer, I think I am going to get Elements for my wife for her to do some digital scrapbooking.

 

[Suburbanmom]

I am using Photoshop Elements 4.0 and I've been using it for almost 2 years. I like it a lot, but since it's the only one I've ever used, I have nothing to compare it to. It was a bit tricky in the beginning, but I'm not one to read instructions either. After tinkering, I got the hang of it. I think Photoshop Elements 5.0 would be an excellent product too.

 

[cosine4]

There is an open source (like Open Office) program that is very similar to Photoshop, it is free for download (NO ADWARE). Its called GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). http://www.gimp.org

 

[matthew_hull]

... and the very popular freeware from Google named Picassa. Designed for beginners:

http://picassa.google.com